An engine bay comes to life the moment it is plumbed. A real engine is laced with plug leads, fuel lines and brake pipes, while a bare kit casting only hints at the tangle. Flexible coloured wire in diameters from 0.35 to 0.8 mm, steel cable and connectors in a range of angles let you wire up an engine, a cockpit and a chassis exactly as the original was built. All it takes beyond that is a small drill, some glue and a photograph of the real car.
An open bonnet is the first place any viewer looks. An engine with plug leads, fuel lines and breathers in place reads as alive, even though it is only a handful of wires and hoses. Flexible wire is sold by the length in many colours, so you can reproduce red ignition leads, braided blue fuel hose and black vacuum lines convincingly. Steel cable serves for linkages and cables under tension, and connectors and unions give a tidy transition between a run and the engine block. One metre of material covers several builds, so a usable stock builds up quickly.
Pick the thickness to suit the scale: around 0.5 mm works for 1:24 and 1:25 car model kits, while the large 1:12 formula car model kits can take heavier hose with visible end fittings.
Soft coloured wire bends easily and holds the shape you give it, while steel cable comes into its own where a run needs to look taut. Choose colours from photographs of the real car; racing machines are generous with colour-coded services, whereas a road engine is usually a quieter mix of black, grey and a single bright loom.
Drill the holes in the block and the bulkhead before painting, then fit the wire last, once everything around it is finished. Cut each length slightly long and trim it in place, and let a hose sag very slightly rather than pulling it straight; a perfectly taut line is the one thing that always looks like a model.
Hose alone is not enough – the credibility comes from the ends. Connectors at 45, 60 and 90 degrees, together with screws, nuts and rivets, build junctions that look as though they came out of the pit lane.
The remaining upgrade categories are kept together in accessories for car and formula models.
